The title is transcribed from the English title page. There are also Hebrew and
Yiddish title pages.

Stavisht. is transcribed thus in the text although the preferred
spelling is .Stavishche. Names of other towns will be transcribed
according to usage in Where Once We Walked, by Gary Mokotoff
and Sallyann Sack with Alexander Sharon.

Hebrew and Yiddish words are transcribed in brackets [ ] on first occurrence.

Names are transliterated as printed in the original except where information
exists of correct spelling. Some names are spelled differently in different
articles and some even in the same article.

Some native speakers of Yiddish use the word taykh for either river or lake.
Thus, in the book it is not always clear if they are referring to the river
that runs through Stavisht or the various lakes and ponds formed by the river.

The Committee

Arthur Schechter (Aharon Shohet)

Honorary President

Yisrael Rubin (Rubtshinski)

Secretary  Treasurer

Moshe Galant

Moshe Kohen

Isak Golub

Louie Lipovski

David Zaslavski

The founder and first president of the Stavisht Society in New YorkTsadok (Charles) Mazer, of blessed memory

Introduction

[Page 21/22]

Introduction to the book

by Arthur SchechterGrand Rapids, Michigan

Arthur Schechter

I left my home town in 1907. I have been in the United States for the past 53
years.

One may ask, why did I decide, 41 years after the destruction of the Ukrainian
Jewish towns, to publish a book about Stavisht? It has been so many years since
the First World War and the Russian Revolution  when the Ukrainian bands
robbed, murdered and destroyed Jewish life. Why have I suddenly decided to do
this now?

I know that one cannot compare the events in Ukraine after the First World War
with the catastrophic events of the worst misfortune in Jewish history, the
destruction of European Jewry.

But it is this mass destruction of the Jewish people by the Nazis, may their
names be erased, that inspired me to immortalize our martyrs from our beloved
little town of Stavisht, with a book written in Yiddish, the language of our
fathers and mothers.

We are the last of that generation  we have the obligation to record for
future historians and for our children, the stories of our childhood lives, which,
we must admit, had many shadows, but also much light and joy.

We are the living witnesses, the heirs of this holy community which lovingly
planted within us the qualities of love and faith of the previous generations.
We have a debt to the future, to write a memorial book about the Jewish
Stavisht of the past, and to raise a monument to the martyrs ground down by the
wheels of the Revolution which was supposed to bring freedom to the world. And
Ukrainian hooligans exploited it to uproot Jewish settlements.

My own life in America has been similar to that of most immigrants of that
time. I struggled, worked, studied a bit, got married, continued struggling,
and managed to achieve my goals  a family, friends, some success in
communal activity, and even a solid material base. But I have never forgotten
the place where I spent the first fourteen years of my life, the small town and
all those dear Jews whom we will never see again, and these memories demanded
to be written down, to be recorded, so that somewhere there would remain a
memorial of that time and place.

And so the years went by, year after year. I was young and I thought that I
would have plenty of time, later, tomorrow, next year, what's the rush?
Meanwhile the Second World War broke out, the worst catastrophe for the Jewish
people, the destruction of European Jewry, pain and shame, yes, the shame is as
great as the pain. How could it happen in the twentieth century, that Jews were
burned up in gas ovens and the world stood by in silence? It is true that
nations warred against each other, but we were killed only because we were
Jews. At that time I decided to give up the idea of memorializing out town, our
martyrs, and began to believe that in such a world it was better to forget. To
remain silent, mute, mute like the millions of dead Jews of both world
catastrophes, to mourn in silence until death would unite us with them.

I felt this way for many years, until 1949, until [after] the establishment of
the beloved State of Israel. In 1949 my wife and I went to Israel, not very
eagerly. I say not very eagerly, because I pictured the State of
Israel quite otherwise than what I found.

I thought it would be a small state full of Jews who were strangers to me
 that is, to my generation, alien to what I had longed for, to what I had
cherished in my heart for years. And here we arrived on a bright Friday into
splendid sunny Jewish Tel Aviv.

As if in a dream, the magic curtain opened before my eyes, and there appeared
the grand idyll of a wonderful Jewish life, beautiful houses, great institutions,
with a constant tempo of building, creating. Above all the children, the sweet
bright little Hayimlekh, Moshelekh, Rahelekh, Saralekh, dear, lovely, smiling
children, so dear, that you want to hug and kiss them all over. It seemed to me
that they were saying to me:

We are here, we are here. We are alive, we are building, to spite our enemies.
We are continuing all that is dear to you. Write down the dreams of your
childhood years, and of your parents and grandparents, and all the beloved Jews
who live on only in your memory. We know that you and your helpers are not
professional writers, but we feel that your goal is to recount the truth, to
record the past generations which lived and hoped, contributed their work and
yearnings and children. Yes, your small town also sent its children to help
build the State of Israel So write about your small town, the tragic end
of your martyrs, and about the dreams which we have realized here, the joy of
the great victory of the State of Israel, which cost us so much blood.

With this inspiration I was encouraged to take on the task in my old age of
recording my memories and establishing a monument to our dear little town and
to its dear community of Jews, and its few surviving heirs.

I could mention here the sorrow and pain I encountered among some landslayt
[compatriots], in New York and especially in Boston, to whom our committee came
for moral and financial support to realize our dream. But, writing these lines
in Tel Aviv, I forgive them.

I would rather mention here the loyal comrades without whom this whole project
could not have succeeded. First of all, the man for whom I have great respect
and friendship, is Yisrael Rubin of New York, for his energetic work in
collecting materials and funds for the book. Moshe Kohen of Philadelphia, the
enthusiastic Stavisht patriot, who bombarded me with letters, and demanded
responses, and against whom I often sinned by not answering all his letters. To
the very sympathetic Golub brothers of New York, to Moshe Galant, David and
Hava Zaslavski. To the honest, sincere, Mr. and Mrs. Lipovski, and others whom
I cannot recall just now  to all of you my dear landslayt and all who
participated in this book I send my blessings and wish that you merit that your
children should carry on the traditions of our people and that they should keep
their memories of you deep in their hearts as you do the memories of our dear
Jews of Stavisht.

[Page 27/28]

The Initiators of the Book of Stavisht

by Moshe Kohen, Philadelphia

For about ten or twelve years I had been corresponding with Yisraelik Rubin
(Yashke the butcher's son from Stavisht), now in New York, about how to
memorialize the town of Stavisht and its Jews. We wrote back and forth on the
subject, but nothing materialized.

One of our landslayt, Aharon Shohet, in America his name is Arthur Schechter,
lives in [Grand] Rapids, Michigan. He is the son of Meir-Velvl Hava. This dear
man, Arthur Schechter, used to come to New York a few times a year on business,
and he met with Yisraelik Rubin from time to time. Yisrael Rubin revealed to
him that he had been thinking of ways to perpetuate the memory of our Stavisht
of long ago.

When Arthur Schechter heard this, he realized that he was not the only one with
this idea. He was inspired to take action to bring the idea to fruition. In his
correspondence with Yisraelik Rubin, he suggested that he call a meeting of
landslayt and tell them about the plan.

The first meeting of landslayt to carry out the plan of publishing a memorial
book for Stavisht took place on a hot Saturday night in June 1959. Fourteen
people from New York participated, and a few came from outside New York,
including the writer of these lines, my brother-in-law, Motl Markman of
Philadelphia, and, of course, Arthur Schechter of Grand Rapids, Michigan. One
cannot forget the impressive speech of our dear landsman [compatriot], Arthur
Schechter, which he gave at this first meeting. How much heart and soul he put
into his talk for the carrying out of this holy task. At this first meeting a
committee was chosen to memorialize Stavisht and its Jews.

Arthur Schechter promised to cover 25% of the cost of publication of the
memorial book. The landslayt of New York and the committee had to overcome many
difficulties. Yisraelik Rubin, the secretary, deserves a special thanks for he
is the life-line of the committee. We have to thank him for our success. And,
of course, we must praise our dear honorary president, Arthur Schechter, for
his active role in the work of publishing the book. He is a man of initiative,
faith, and patience, who can achieve the most difficult goals.

Afterwards I met with Arthur Schechter and Yisraelik Rubin, the dear Stavisht
activists, in Philadelphia in 1960. Although all three of us were busy with our
personal affairs, the memorial book project occupied a very important and
central place in our hearts and souls. For me this meeting was a spiritual
experience. I felt such carefree joy, as if I were a young boy, forgetting the
tens of years since we were uprooted from our home in Stavisht, and that we
have been citizens of the United States for many years. Here is our dear
landsman Arthur Schechter, who was but a fourteen year old boy when he came to
America, and has been here for over fifty years, but he is still tied to his
home town by spiritual bonds. And we landslayt, no matter where we find
ourselves, are still tied heart and soul to our unforgettable old home of
previous generations. Every landsman has the holy obligation of acquiring this
book, which will immortalize the memory of Stavisht and its Jews, and of the
dear parents and grandparents who raised us with devotion and dedication.

[Page 29/30]

Stavisht Society in New York

by Yisrael Rubin

In 1907 a group of 25 Stavisht landslayt got together and founded an
organization with the name Ershter Stavishtsher
Untershtitsung-Fareyn [First Stavisht Mutual Aid Society] with Tsadok
Mazer as the first president. It received a charter from New York State and
continued its work until 1916. During this period some members broke away and
formed a Stavisht branch of Workmen's Circle. However, with the passage of
time, most of them rejoined the Society which was reorganized in 1916.

During the First World War and the Russian Revolution there were persecutions
and murders of Jews in Ukraine and mass emigration to America and other
countries. The residents of the small towns left their homes and businesses and
all their possessions and fled. Most of the emigrants went to Romania, some to
Poland, and others to Germany, England, and Palestine and other countries. When
they arrived in the foreign countries, poor, without clothing, and without any
livelihood, their cries for help reached the landslayt in America.

What did the Society do?

Tsadok Mazer, the president of the Society, called a conference of all the
landslayt and they decided to found a relief fund. He worked day and night
without rest, he and a committee of some of the members: Yosef Rabinovits,
Ayzik Silverman, Louis Kien, Sam Saks, Yosef Burshteyn, Philip Ratof, Yosef
Silverman, Yosef Kanski, Louie Derzshanski and others used to visit landslayt
they knew every night of the week and on weekends they were able to raise a few
thousand dollars.

They chose delegates and sent them to Romania and to border towns to help the
emigrants with money, papers, visas and whatever they needed so that they could
come to America. This was one of the noblest deeds which people could do for
the suffering Jews. This continued until suddenly the doors of the countries
were shut with iron curtains and they could not help them emigrate, even with
money.

Our rabbi, Rabbi Yitshak Avraham Gaysinski, went from Russia to England. He was
there a few years and decided to come to America, and when he arrived the
Society received him warmly. At first he was in Philadelphia. A delegation of
our Society went there and brought him to New York. He was made an honorary
member of our Society.

I wish to add a few words about our founder and first president, Tsadok Mazer,
peace upon him. He was a genial person with a good heart and soul. He loved
people in general and Stavisht landslayt in particular. He was always ready to
help someone in need. He often neglected his family and business in order to go
help, and if he could not go himself, he would send his son, Harry Mazer who
was then still a young boy.

His house was open to all, as was his heart. He used to help everyone with
advice and deeds. Unfortunately he was torn from us at a young age and we miss
him very much. Stavisht landslayt will never forget him, honor to his memory.

In the course of the years our Society grew in membership and now has almost
200 families. We have carried out a number of entertainments, balls, dance
evenings and banquets. I remember a banquet which we had in 1948 when the State
of Israel was founded. We raised money to build a house in the State of Israel
in the name of the Stavisht Society of New York.

Another happening, at our banquet in 1956. We celebrated the 40th anniversary
of our Society, reorganized in 1916. The banquet was held in a grand hall in
the Bronx, with good food and music. On this occasion we prepared a golden book
with photographs in which most of the members wrote their greetings. Part of
the book was devoted to memorial notices for our dear ones. We had 25 guests
from various cities: Boston, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Buffalo, Chicago,
Toronto, Canada and even Africa.

Our benefits include insurance policies for every member, sick benefits and
other benefits for the members, and support for various organizations. We own
three fully paid for cemeteries, a few thousand dollars in the bank, American
and Israel Bonds. We hold regular meetings every month. We have very reliable
directors and our business is carried out in the most democratic fashion. We
have an office in Academy Hall, on Fourteenth Street in New York, where we hold
our meetings.

For the past 25-30 years, our Society has been a model for other societies. All
landslayt from Stavisht should be proud to belong to our Society.

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